Top real estate agents round out their brand and attract more clients with sharp, insightful content marketing. Yes, your clients want the house of their dreams or the best price from the market. But how they feel about the most important transaction of their financial lives depends on how much they trust YOU, the person who got them there.

Put yourself in the client’s shoes. Choosing a real estate agent is a high-stakes choice. Finding a good one can be even harder: the market for real estate agents is fragmented and information-poor. Beyond personal recommendations and the reputation of your brokerage, they have very little to go on. Good talent is hard to assess and hard to find.

Luckily for them, you exist. Their perfect real estate agent, worthy of their trust and ready to shepherd them deftly through the process. But how do they find you?

This is where content marketing comes in. Your content marketing provides an insight into your individual values and expertise. An ad can raise name recognition. Content marketing can build trust.

The choice to do content marketing as a realtor is an easy one. Here’s the what, where/when, and how of doing it right…

The What: Finding a topic niche

A memorable, trustworthy brand stands for one thing. The part of our brains responsible for trust is old and simple: Nuance is the enemy. If you are the real estate agent who understands young families, a piece on trends in nightlife doesn’t build trust, even though yes, some young parents might be dying to escape for a night of drinking and dancing.

How to choose your topic? Pick something that excites you, that you know like the back of your hand or enjoy researching. If someone asked your friends a question on this topic, your friends would direct them to you.

There are three main areas to consider as you brainstorm topics:
1. Location: Features of neighborhoods, like trends in price and demographics, trends in local businesses, trends in schools and public services, and features attractive to kids and pets
2. Property: Architectural and lot features, like trends in floorplans, trends materials and finishes, trends in grounds and landscaping, and trends by room: e.g. “the modern kitchen”
3. Décor: Interior design trends, by room and by style – because your clients’ imaginations are hungry for inputs as they picture each property as their home

Sound like you could write a book on these topics? Good! Just take a leaf out of Charles Dickens’ and serialize…

The Where/When: Reaching potential clients

Your content marketing will only be effective if it reaches potential clients. Wherever you post your piece: your LinkedIn, your Medium, your Facebook, your personal website – make sure that: (1) Your piece links to your website at the bottom (or otherwise directs potential clients to your contact information), (2) You share a link to your piece on all of your social media as soon as you post it.

One practice that’s not recommended is emailing full content marketing pieces out to your contacts. You want your piece to be shared, not spam.

To that effect, how often is too often? And how many posts do you need to make a difference?

The key here is regularity. Post once a week, once every two weeks, once a month, or even once a quarter. If you can, always post on the same day of the week. If you’re feeling inspired to write multiple pieces at once, save them up and post them at intervals so that each piece can make its own splash.

The How: Finding your voice

You’ve got a topic and a place to post: Does your actual writing matter? Yes. How you write content marketing pieces is the most important part of building trust in your brand.

The most important part of your piece is the headline and featured photo. Most people who see the piece will only notice the headline and photo. Some who like them both will decide to read the piece. Choose something snappy and clear: this is not the place for nuance.

For the rest of the piece, put yourself in your clients’ shoes. Are they looking for reassuring professionalism? For cheeky dishing on trends? Make sure the voice of the piece is appropriate for the audience you’re looking for.

Good content marketing is the best way to build trust in your brand before meeting potential clients in person.